---
title: "How to Start and Enable Firewalld on Fedora 23"
source: "https://docs.nexcess.com/hosting/security/firewall-management/how-to-start-and-enable-firewalld-on-fedora-23/"
description: "As a matter of following security best practices, you should protect your server with a firewall. Fedora 23 and CentOS 7 come with firewalld, an alternative to…"
vertical: "Hosting"
date: "2016-01-28"
last_modified: "2026-07-29"
---

# How to Start and Enable Firewalld on Fedora 23

Please note that this article is considered legacy documentation because Fedora 23 has reached its end-of-life support.

  
As a matter of following security best practices, you should protect your server with a firewall. Fedora 23 and CentOS 7 come with firewalld, an alternative to iptables.

[Explore our hosting services](https://www.liquidweb.com/hosting/)

## Pre-Flight Check

- These instructions are intended specifically for enabling and starting firewalld on Fedora 23. The instructions are the same for CentOS 7.
- We’ll be logging in as root on a Liquid Web Self Managed Fedora 23 server.
- All our [dedicated server solutions](https://www.liquidweb.com/dedicated-server-hosting/) are available to view at your leisure

## Enable Firewalld

To enable firewalld and have it start at boot, run the following command:

`systemctl enable firewalld`

## Start Firewalld

To start firewalld, run the following command:

`systemctl start firewalld`

## Check the Status of Firewalld

To check the status of firewalld, run the following command as root:

`systemctl status firewalld`

To stop and disable firewalld, visit [How to Stop and Disable Firewalld on Fedora 21](https://www.liquidweb.com/blog/how-to-stop-and-disable-firewalld-on-fedora-21/)